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Girl turns into an old lady
Phuong is allergic to seafood. In 2008, after eating seafood, she suffered from serious allergy. Her husband, Nguyen Thanh Tuyen, 34, bought allergy medicines from a local pharmacy for Phuong. The young woman took the medicines for several days but they were ineffective. Tuyen took his wife to a local doctor, who said Phuong was diagnosed with dermatitis and wrote out a prescription for a week.
However, Phuong had hives on her face after taking the medicines. She stopped using the drug and saw an Oriental doctor in Giong Trom town.
After that, she saw many Oriental doctors and took different kinds of medicines to cure liver disease. Using Oriental medicines for six months without effectiveness, Phuong turned to Chinese traditional medicines. Herb doctors still insisted that Phuong contacted liver disease and gave her medicines for liver diseases. The woman took Chinese traditional medicines for two months.
Phuong’s disease did not ease up. She had to wear mask whenever she left home since 2009. Tuyen had to quit job to take care of his wife. Being out of money, she has stopped taking any medicine since 2009. The young woman looked like a 70-year-old woman. Her neighbors and relatives could only recognize her through her voice.
After two months of treatment at the HCM City Medical University Hospital, Phuong left the hospital on November 2.
According to Prof., Dr. Dang Van Phuoc, the hospital’s deputy director, Phuong’s skin condition has improved and her face looks younger with less wrinkles. The treatment helps to erase 25 to 30 percent of Phuong’s itched and wrinkled skin. The woman is in good health and has gained two kilos.
Phuong is actually suffering from Mastocytosis and Acquired Cutis Laxa, according to the result of a skin biopsy conducted by medical experts at Baylor University in Texas and tested by MD Anderson Cancer Center in the US.
Mastocytosis is a disorder caused by the presence of too many mast cells which produce a number of symptoms like skin lesions, diarrhea, abdominal discomforts and other infections.
Meanwhile, Acquired Cutis Laxa tends to follow (and may be caused by) severe illness characterized by fever, inflammation, and a severe skin rash (erythema multiforme), an injury to the nerves that control blood vessel dilation and contraction, or an autoimmune condition.
Phuong’s condition is very rare since she is the second patient among seven billion people on the planet to have been diagnosed with Mastocytosis and Acquired Cutis Laxa.
According to Dr. Phuoc, Phuong will be treated for two or three more months before undergoing a plastic surgery to remove the deep wrinkles on her face.
Phuong’s case has been reported by many foreign newswires. The media also praises her husband’s faithfulness, Nguyen Thanh Tuyen, who has still loved his “old” wife.
At the same time, doctors detected a similar case in Hoi An City, the central province of Quang Nam. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Mai, 27, abused medicines for a long time but she did not archive the names of medicines that she had used, so it is very difficult for doctors to make diagnosis and treat for her.
Man with over 1m-wide tumor on his leg
Hai was very healthy and normal at birth. However, when he was four, the lower part of his right leg began to develop extra growth, causing difficulties in walking.
The tumor weighed around 28kg when Hai was 17. The tumor was very painful and Hai could not walk.
His family took him to the Lam Dong General Hospital for treatment, but doctors failed to identify the cause. His family asked doctors to cut off the excess growth.
However, the remaining part of Hai’s right leg began to develop into a tumor that kept growing larger and larger, until it covered the entire bottom portion of his body. At its largest, the tumor is 1.17m long, weighing over 80kg.
Hai now relies on his 61-year-old mother for all his daily activities, including personal hygiene.
He hopes doctors can remove the tumor.
According to the doctors, Hai is suffering from a rare genetic disease called von Reckling hausen, which affects one out of every 3,500 people worldwide. This is a form of genetic disorder in which the nervous tissues grow tumors, the doctors said.
During his time at hospital, waiting for a surgery, the tumor has weighted up to 90kg. Hai’s only wish now is to get the 90-kilogram tumor on his right leg removed as soon as possible.
American doctor McKay McKinnon, who is known worldwide for successfully treating similar tumor cases, has been instrumental in using his personal contacts with these hospitals to give Hai another chance.
McKinnon was expected to lead a Vietnamese- American surgeon team with doctors from the Ho Chi Minh Oncology Hospital to carry out the operation for Hai on November 18.
However, the procedure was cancelled after the hospital discovered that Hai had a pleural effusion, which is a buildup of fluid around the lungs, further weakening his health condition and making it too dangerous to perform the surgery.
Le Hoang Minh, head of the Oncology hospital, said the effusion would complicate procedures and likely kill Hai during the operation. He added that the hospital’s staff would be willing to contribute to a future operation if another hospital decides to take Hai in.
He left the Oncology Hospital on December 2, and has been staying in District 2 with his mother ever since to wait for another chance.
In an interview with Tuoitre, Dr. McKinnon said that there was little time left for Hai, and that his body could hardly withstand the growth of the tumor for another year, while adding that an operation is the only hope for Hai and his family.
He also added that the initial pulmonary function test that revealed Hai’s pleural effusion was not exact, and that the chance of success for the surgery could be as high as 50 percent if it were carried out.
Funding is another problem for the patient and his family, who have been struggling for years with the illness, as a surgery of this scale will cost tens of thousands of USD, a source close to one of the hospitals said.
Perhaps Hai will have to live with the huge tumor for the rest of his life.
Woman with thousands of pimples
At the age of 35, the body of Ly is covered by thousands of pimples. Many pimples are as big as lemons or oranges.
The woman cannot see clearly because pimples have covered her eyes. She is always in pain and could not walk. Ly’s personal activities depend on her mother, Mrs. Thach Sa Phai, 60.
The chief of Ngan Ro 1 hamlet, Dang Van Ep, said that perhaps Sa Ly is infected with Agent Orange. The local government is seeking support for the woman.
On December 12, Tran Van Thanh, Chairman of the Oriental Medicine Association of Thanh Tri District, Soc Trang Province, who has kept an eye on Ly’s disease for a time, said that the woman suffered from one kind of cancer.
Thanh said big tumors on the woman’s body can be cut off. Thanh said he and members of the Oriental Medicine Association of Thanh Tri District are willing to cure the woman.
Nearly 80 people get ulcerated skin with unknown reason
Tests reveal that these people have high liver enzyme, anemia, kidney failure but doctors could not find out the reason.
According to the Quang Ngai Health Department, the province had 79 people who suffer from this disease by December 9. One kid was dead because of the disease.
The Ministry of Health launched an investigation. Experts from the Central Dermatology Hospital made research and said that perhaps patients contacted dermatis caused by pesticides. However, official conclusion has not been made.
Wolfman
On November 1, Nguyen Van Phong from Binh Nam commune in Quang Nam province was also diagnosed to suffer from the same syndrome.
Man with a giant foot
Tai’s left foot is 32cm long, 20cm wide and the instep has swollen greatly.
The big toe and the next toe look normal while the remaining three toes are as big as wrists.
For the last 40 years, he has struggled to walk with this ‘hammer’ foot.
Tai said his left foot was big different at birth and it also grew with him. At the age of 20, when Tai married, the foot stopped developing.
As the giant foot does not fit any sandal or shoes, he walks with the bare feet.
Tai’s neighbors call him “Big-foot Tai”. He has four children, the eldest is 19 and they developed normally.
Tai has visited doctors many times but they refused to make an operation for him.
Son Tung
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